Opinion: Michigan’s Anti-Trust Case Against Fossil Fuel Companies Is Absurd

February 23, 2026

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has shifted the legal strategy in her fight against fossil fuel companies. Nessel’s office filed an antitrust lawsuit in January that reads less like a traditional competition case and more like an alternate history of how energy markets supposedly would have evolved but for a decades-long conspiracy. The complaint does not merely allege misconduct; it imagines an entirely different Michigan – one where electric vehicles dominate roads, renewable energy is ubiquitous, and consumers enjoy lower costs and broader choices in transportation and home energy.